I thought I might not have a lot to write today becausethere wasn’t a lot of touristing. Ipacked up this morning, left my bags at the ryokan, and went over to KyotoStation. I mailed out my Korea guide andMansfield Park and a whole bunch of paper souvenirs…I think I might havemailed back part of my Mt Fuji travel tickets as well as notes onaccommodations for Tokyo and Mt Fuji. The accommodation part is OK but I am not sure about the bus ride segment.

Anyway, after successfully negotiating the post office, Iwent to the bus terminal to find the bus or buses going to Nijo Castle. Frommer’s said it would take 1 minute but itwas at least 10 stops. There was nouphill walk to the castle so that was nice. The guidebook mentions the wonderful garden by a famous designer butmaybe I am jaded by now, a lot of the others were more impressive to me. There was a substantial plum tree grove. The major garden had a central lake with lotsof rocks. Great rocks. Beautiful rocks but I thought it was a bitbusy and I probably shouldn’t talk.

What I was most impressed with here were the shogun’srooms. The wood was gorgeous: dark and lustrous. Huge timbers. There were rice paper screens that let lots of light into the outerhallways. In the halls of the differentbuildings, there were different ceiling designs and beautiful paintings by amaster and his school. One room hadchrysanthemums, another eagles and other birds, others pine trees

. I especially liked the rectangles in thehalls that were more abstract designs = like silk dress material maybe. The castle had a moat and stone walls withhuge blocks of stone. We could walk upon one corner and there was a view of the Kyoto cityscape. I don’t know if it was hotter today or the accumulated effects just woreme down because I was totally enervated by the end of my walk around thegrounds. A quick trip to their little exhibition hall and thesouvenir shop for postcards and I was ready to head back to Kyoto Station.

I needed to get more cash before Tokyo and Fuji so I askedat the Info Center so I wouldn’t waste time looking around. Where did I get sent: the Post Office. So back I went and then across the wholestation again to get to my ryokan to pick up my bags. I first checked to see where I would get thetrain so I wouldn't have to mess around when I had all my bags. The ryokan manager gave me a glass of water as I headed out the door. It was a long sweaty walk to the traingate. He must have anticipated that I would definitely need that water. It was a lovely gesture. I don’t know how the Japanesepeople manage to look so crisp in this heat – THEY don’t have huge wetsplotches on THEIR clothes

The trains are managed amazingly efficiently. There was a sign with time, numbers, andtracks. I was used to that. But once I got to the track, there were signsfor the train car number above the track and little markings where you shouldstand in line waiting for your car. Ifound my seat. I was happy it was awindow seat. This was a Shinkansen train– a bullet train but I think it looks more like a porpoise train. It sped along until we left Kyotocity. The suburbs look more like Iimagined Japan would look – very neat and tidy. The were kelly green rice fields along the tracks in a lot of places. Wewent through several large urban areas and suburbs, some industrial areas. I think the newer buildings can look tidierbecause they don’t have all that ugly retrofitting – wiring and a/c. I fell asleep during the first half of theride, then I got some seatmates toward the end. They pulled out some snacks and I thought there was a problem with thetoilets at the end of the car

. I amstill not quite sure but the toilets seemed to smell OK. It might have been their snacks.

We pulled into Tokyo Central Station….I have no idea howmany there are, but I think too many for me to manage. I got a taxi to my hostel….. It was hard enough for me to findthe right place to get in line for the taxis. The taxis here all use GPS. Mydriver couldn’t figure out what I was telling him about hostel vs hotel butwhen he put in the phone number from Frommer’s, he found the address. He was so nice, when we stopped in front of abig high-rise, he went to check that it was the right place. I checked into the hostel, found out therules, got my sheets and some instructions on how to get to the bus stationtomorrow morning that I think I had better scrap if I really plan to get there.

After putting the sheets on my bed in the 8-bunk room – I thinkthere are only 4 of us though – and packing up for tomorrow, I went toeat. I thought carbo loading would beappropriate so I stopped at a noodle place and pointed to one of the menuentries

. I got noodle soup, stuffeddumplings and rice. Now that is carboloading! I had some difficulty eatingbecause the waitress stopped to chat with me and practice her English. She is Chinese studying economics in Japanand works 7 days a week and is ready for her vacation. A quick shower and here I am jotting down theevents of the day. I tried the internetbut I couldn’t get it to work. They have a wholebunch of complicated instructions, but I need to get to sleep rather early soI’ll pass on them tonight. Maybe day aftertomorrow when I am back from Fuji-san.